AMC CEO Praises SEC Innovation Order After Robinhood Spat

Adam Aron, chief executive of AMC, who objected to Robinhood tokenizing the cinema chain's shares in a wrapper without permission, praised the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's innovation exemption on trading tokenized equities.

On 3 September 2026 Aron criticized broker Robinhood on X for issuing a token referencing AMC shares without the company's consent.

Aron argued that the broker set up a "fictitious synthetic equity market" that decouples stock token ownership from a company's ability to control its own capital raising efforts, deprives token owners of shareholder rights such as being able to vote their stock and has created distrust amongst the public about financial markets in general.

On 17 September 2026 the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued a 60-page order granting temporary, conditional exemptive relief to tokenized securities venues (TSVs) to trade tokenized National Market System (NMS) stocks using permissioned automated market makers and liquidity pools. The exemptions are set to expire five years after publication.

Hester Peirce, SEC commissioner, said in a statement: "In issuing this order, the Commission is rejecting the approach that the mythological Procrustes would have taken. He was not asking the guests their sleep number; he claimed to have a bed that fit every traveler. In reality, he brute-forced each traveler to fit the one bed he had by stretching short travelers and cutting the legs off tall ones. Here, by contrast, the Commission is using its exemptive authority to tailor the bed to fit the sleeper. Carefully crafted conditions on that relief should ensure that nobody else's sleep is disturbed."

Robert Leshner, chief executive of tokenization platform Superstate, highlighted in a statement that the SEC exemption excludes instruments where a third party issues a crypto asset providing synthetic exposure to an underlying security. He added this is "relevant to the ongoing AMC–Robinhood dispute."

In addition the exemption states that issuers get an effective veto over tokens on their equity as a venue cannot list a token if a corporate objects in writing within 30 days and the venue must disclose the objection publicly within five business days. Tokenized shares must also carry the same rights as the underlying stock and third-party tokenizers must distribute proxy materials at no cost to the issuer or shareholders, according to Leshner.

He expects issuers to rethink products to conform with these new rules. Superstate owns an SEC-registered transfer agent and so can issue stock onchain and maintain traditional shareholder rights. Registered transfer agents maintain the official record of ownership of an issuer's securities and facilitate the issuance, cancellation, and transfer of securities.

"We'll get glimmers of the tokenized future: more transparency, 24/7 trading, fewer intermediaries, and a self-sovereign future," added Leshner.

Alex Thorn, head of firmwide research at Galaxy Digital, highlighted in a report that the digital asset fund manager enabled tokenization of its public stock on the Solana blockchain in September 2025. Shareholders can work with Superstate's transfer agent to convert their traditional shares into tokens. Thorn added: "We followed the issuer-sponsored approach and our stock token requires know-your-customer onboarding with our onchain transfer agent, Superstate."

He described the order allowing issuers to opt out of third-party issuers tokenizing the underlying NMS stock issuer as a middle ground between the issuer-only and no-consent camps, but said it will be controversial.

"The issue was illustrated by the recent public spat between Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev and AMC CEO Adam Aron," Thorn added. "Those favoring open secondary markets will view any veto as too much, while issuer-sponsored advocates may view a one-time 30-day window as too little."

Dave Hendricks, chief executive and founder of Vertalo, an SEC-registered digital transfer agent and tokenization software platform, said the order is a "big deal":

Gabriel Otte, co-founder at tokenization platform Dinari Global, said:

Otte said: "It gives us a path to make dShares actually transferable in the U.S. without changing the core model we already built. There are issuer opt-outs and volume/name caps, but those feel like launch constraints, not structural problems."

Brett Redfearn, president of tokenization platform Securitize, said on X this is a thoughtfully constructed step toward a workable framework for enabling trading of tokenized U.S. securities using automated market makers and liquidity pools for US investors.

Redfearn highlighted that TSVs must verify and disclose that a tokenized stock carries equivalent rights to the underlying share, but that verification is self-reported, not independently audited.

"The order does not mandate a qualified custodian, transfer-agent verification, or proof-of-reserve requirement confirming that a third-party tokenizer actually holds real shares backing the tokens it issues," added RedFearn. " Given that the SEC is directly asking the public whether additional conditions are needed, this looks like an area being deliberately left open for comment rather than an oversight."

Automated market makers (AMMs)

Redfearn continued that the SEC built in real limits rather than opening the door fully for trading on TSVs, such as tiered symbol and volume caps. He added that TSVs must also run smart contracts that are public and auditable on a permissionless ledger, must halt trading in a token whenever the underlying stock is halted on its primary exchange, may not extend leverage or credit to participants, and must clearly and affirmatively disclose that they are not SEC-registered or approved.

"Anti-fraud and anti-manipulation rules, including Rule 10b-5, remain fully in force," said Redfearn. "One detail worth highlighting: transfer restrictions can be encoded directly into the token itself, not just enforced at the trading venue's front end."

Superstate was a launch partner on permissioned pools from Uniswap, the decentralized crypto exchange. Leshner described these pools as the permissioned automated market maker (AMM) architecture authorized by the innovation exemption. AMMs price and execute trades algorithmically using smart contracts and liquidity pools instead of matching buyers and sellers through a traditional centralized order book.

Leshner believes that permitting AMMs is "a huge unlock" for tokenized equities.

Thorn added that due to the lack of regulatory clarity, onchain secondary trading of tokenized $GLXY has "mostly been impossible."

"This new exemption provides what Galaxy and other issuers need – an exemption for onchain trading venues from the exchange rules, and a clarification that those trading in tokenized stocks are not 'dealing' if they trade in their own account," said Thorn.

Galaxy is now examining next steps. However, Thorn also highlighted that the innovation order does not provide separate relief under the Investment Company Act, so registered funds may still face additional constraints even if their shares qualify as NMS stock.

Alan Konevsky, chief executive of blockchain-powered infrastructure provider tZERO, said in a statement that the order is significant step by the SEC in recognizing the role of tokenized assets and DeFi [decentralized finance] functionality. He added: "The innovation exemption did not enable DeFi transactions; that is yet to come."

Alvin Kan, chief operating officer at Bitget Wallet, said in an email to Markets Media that the synthetic exposure being explicitly outside the scope of the exemption, is materially different from many crypto-native tokenized equity products globally, where the token may instead represent price exposure or a contractual claim against an intermediary.

He noted that the potential improvement for users is meaningful as it includes self-custody, fractional ownership, around-the-clock trading and near-instantaneous settlement but that tokenization does not automatically create a better product.

"If access remains heavily permissioned, liquidity is shallow and users still face multiple intermediaries, blockchain may mainly modernize the back end without materially changing the front-end experience," added Kan. "The real test is whether tokenization reduces settlement, reconciliation and distribution friction, not simply whether the stock has been put onchain."

Salman Banei, general counsel at digital asset distribution platform PlumeNetwork, said:

Ashley Ebersole, co-founder and chief legal officer of tx, a marketplace for tokenized real-world assets, and a former SEC senior counsel, said in an email to Markets Media that this exemption is a foundational step toward continuous, weekend, and holiday trading without the limits of 'market hours' and intermediary involvement. He added: "Volume caps, limit-up/limit-down tiers, and other controls are incorporated to protect investors."

Tyler Gellasch, president and chief executive of the Healthy Markets Association, an investor-focused not-for-profit focused on increasing transparency and reducing conflicts of interest in the capital markets, said:

Dave Lauer, co-founder and board chair at Urvin Finance, said:

Distributed by Newsbank, inc.